Magnetic affinity colloid (MAC) cell separation of leukemia cells from autologous bone marrow aspirates

A colloidal suspension of Co2B with avidin irreversibly adsorbed to the surface has been used with biotinylated antibodies and lectins to eliminate specific cell populations from mixtures with peripheral blood or bone marrows. Using the monoclonal antibodies CF-1 and PM-81 with this magnetic affinity colloid (MAC), we can eliminate five logs of K562 cells from mixtures with peripheral blood or marrow cells as determined by a linear limiting dilution clonogenic assay. We have also used this separation to eliminate clonogenic leukemia cells from fresh samples of peripheral blood and bone marrow from relapsed acute leukemia patients. Using CF-1 alone or in combination with PM-81, we eliminated two logs of colonies and clusters of leukemia cells from the fresh samples. The same antibodies used with MAC separation of hematologically normal marrows allow recovery of greater than 30% of the hematopoietic progenitors.